1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for performing liposuction, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for performing liposuction in a mechanically assisted manner using powered expedients.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Suction lipectomy, commonly known as liposuction or lipoxheresis, is a well known surgical procedure used for sculpturing or contouring the human body to increase the attractiveness of its form. In general, the procedure involves the use of a special type of curet known as a cannula, which is operably connected to a vacuum source. The cannula is inserted within a region of fatty tissue where removal thereof is desired, and the vacuum source suctions the fatty tissue through the suction aperture in the cannula and carries the aspirated fat away. Removal of fat cells by liposuction creates a desired contour that will retain its form.
Presently, there are two widely accepted techniques of liposuction and each may be practiced using a conventional liposuction cannula. The first and most common method proposed by Yves-Gerard Illouz and described in the paper "Illouz's Technique of Body Contouring by Lipolysis" in Vol. 3, No. 3, July 1984 of Clinics in Plastic Surgery, involves making regular tunnels at a depth of at least 1 centimeter under the skin. According to this method, one or two insertions are made, with radial excursions of the cannula into the fatty tissue of the patient. The result is a multitude of concomitant sinuses formed below the subcutaneous fatty tissue, leaving intact as far as possible the connections between the skin and underlying tissue, thereby retaining the blood vessels, the lymphatics and the nerve endings. The second method is the original liposuction procedure proposed by U. K. Kesselring, described in "Body Contouring with Suction Lipectomy", in Vol. 11, No. 3, July 1984, Clinics in Plastic Surgery. According to the technique, an entire layer of regular, deep fat is removed by aspiration through the cannula, leaving a smooth, deep surface of the residual panniculus. The space thus created is then compressed, optimally followed by skin retraction.
Both of these prior art liposuction techniques require that the surgeon push and pull the entire cannula back and forth almost twenty times for each insertion made. Typically, twenty to thirty tunnels are made. This is necessary to ensure even removal of fat in the targeted region. During this procedure, the surgeon typically massages the flesh in the area of the aperture in the cannula, while at the same time, thrusting the rod in and out of the tunnel. Due to the trauma involved during the procedure, the patients' skin turns black and blue for several weeks. Due to the physically exacting nature of the procedure, the surgeon typically comes out of an operating room extremely tired and suffers from muscular fatigue which prevents him from performing for some time thereafter, the delicate operations involved in ordinary plastic surgery.
In an attempt to solve the above-described problem, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,735,605, 4,775,365 and 4,792,327 to Swartz disclose an assisted lipectomy cannula having an aspiration aperture which effectively travels along a portion of the length of the cannula, thereby obviating the necessity of the surgeon to repeatedly push the cannula in and out of the patients' subcutaneous tissue where fatty tissue is to be removed. While this assisted lipectomy cannula can operate on either air or electric power, it nevertheless suffers from several significant shortcomings and drawbacks. In particular, the device requires an outer tube with an elongated slot and a inner tube having a spiral slot which must be rotated inside the outer tube to effectuate a traveling aspiration aperture. In addition to this construction posing great difficulties in cleaning and sterilization and undue complexity of the cannula lumen itself, exact relocation of the traveling aperture appears to render this cannula highly ineffective in fat aspiration.
Accordingly, there is a great need in the art for a mechanically assisted lipectomy cannula which overcomes the shortcomings and drawbacks of prior art lipectomy apparatus.
Thus, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for performing liposuction which assists the surgeon in the removal of fat and other subcutaneous tissue (such as but not restricted to gynecomastia) from surrounding tissue, with increased control and without promoting physical fatigue.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such apparatus in the form of a hand-holdable liposuction instrument in which the cannula and its accompanying aspiration aperture or apparatus reciprocates back and forth relative to a hand-holdable housing.
It is a further object to provide such a liposuction instrument in which the rate of reciprocation and the amount of excursion of the cannula are selectively adjustable by the surgeon during the course of operation.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide such a liposuction instrument which can be driven by air or electricity.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a liposuction instrument, in which the cannula can be simply detached from the hand-holdable housing for ease of replacement and/or sterilization.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of performing liposuction, in which the cannula is automatically reciprocated back and forth relative to the hand-holdable housing, to permit increased control over the area of subcutaneous tissue where fatty and other soft tissue is to be aspirated.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent hereinafter.